Thursday, September 21, 2017

I fear I'm gonna regret this...

There's a thin green line between lush, and overgrown. I try to stay right on that line, employing a few judicious cuts whenever overgrown seems to be taking hold. Sometime earlier this month (or maybe even last month) my calendar denial gene kicked in and I stopped cutting. Let the crazy garden take over! After all autumn (and then winter) is coming...

The Clematis tibetana var. vernayi has gone a little mad this season and jumped from its trellis to the surrounding plants...

It's hard to tell the Metapanax delavayi leaves from the Clematis leaves. Of course the Clematis will die back in the winter, leaving ugly stems I'll have to carefully remove from the evergreen Metapanax. Lazy in August means more work in October.

It's also trying to stage a take over of the Schefflera delavayi...

The view from our bedroom window is a glorious foliage mash-up.

With a few small Clematis blooms starting to appear.

Over on the right side of the path a bit of Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) that hitchhiked to this garden from my last (in Spokane) is taking advantage of the sun (and space) that appeared with the passing of my Grevillea victoriae 'Murray Queen'.

It loves climbing the Callistemon viridiflorus...

It too is going to have to be cut back, eventually.

Probably sooner than later judging by how happy it is.

Until then I'm enjoying the decadence...

Weather Diary, Sept 20: Hi 61, Low 49/ Precip 1.20"

All material © 2009-2017 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

33 comments:

  1. I wouldn't change a thing. I love the layers upon layers of texture in your garden. It's so lush and full of wonderful plants to discover.

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    1. You're kind, and you also don't have to be the one to wrestle those vines into submission!

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  2. That yucca -- my eyes just can't turn away! It is simply stunning. How long did it take to grow that trunk?

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    1. We bought it in 2008 at about 1/2 that height. The rest of the trunk has grown in the following years.

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  3. It was looking perfect, letting go a bit and being relaxed was a good decision :)

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    1. Hey! I have a great idea. I can put you to work here before I take you to the airport!!! A couple of hours of garden labor...

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  4. I trip over that thin green line all the time too ;) I think it looks wonderful! Every time I see a photo of a metapanax I check its moisture needs. Do you have to run the hose on it all summer? I'd hate to bring one home and abuse it, but it might be time for a test run.

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    1. Not at all. Since I do water the lawn it of course gets some water that way, but not all that much. Try it!

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  5. I'm always a bit rueful that as my favorite season arrives, yours is fading away. But your garden doesn't look at all sad about summer's passing. It's exuberantly lush! I so enjoyed seeing it again -- and you! -- last month and am finally ready to post about it. Look for Danger Garden at Digging tomorrow!

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    1. As I've learned from several years of blogging it's really all about where you live isn't it? I doubt summer would be my favorite season either if I lived under your death star. Oh! Off to see what you saw in my garden...

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  6. It may end up being a bit of extra work (or a lot, perhaps) but it looks great now. It's not overgrown, just extra lush. Surely that Virginia creeper can stay until it turns red in the season which I will not name for you sake. Provided it doesn't completely overtake the Callistemon before then.

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    1. Ya, seeing all that shocking bright color will make the extra work work it, for that one at least. The Clematis though, that one's a different story.

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  7. Welcome to the "let the plants win"* team Loree! You'll find that it's much less stressful. Looks fabulous.

    *Also known as the "prune when you find yourself crouching while walking the garden paths" team.

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    1. The Clematis branches have been slapping me in the face for a few weeks now. I guess I'm officially in.

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  8. Love it lush and overgrown a bit. And as you say fall and winter are on the way. I would be sitting out there every evening!

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    1. If only! It's been too cold and rainy the last few days to be out there in the evening. Thankfully there's a change a coming.

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  9. Ah, to have a mad clematis! There's a lot of joy in letting plants do their thing while they can. While the hot and dry conditions here have left holes in places, I too am facing rampant growth in some areas, plants swallowing other plants, and I think the time of reckoning has finally arrived.

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    1. There are always thugs, no matter the garden...

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  10. We wait so long for plants to attain maturity that it is disconcerting to have to start cutting them back as soon as they peak. But it sure looks lush.

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    1. Seems the vines attain maturity annually. But I guess that's why I love them.

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  11. I'm in the opposite camp this year--my spring clean-up was such hell this year due to actual spring rains releasing a zillion weed seeds from drought induced dormancy. I decided to start cutting things back now in the expectation of another weed-o-rama in spring
    2018. I usually let things stand til at least January.

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    1. Here's hoping you avoid weed-o-rama 2018!

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  12. Loving the jungle look! Don't worry, that season whose name we dare not speak will do some clearing out. I already miss summer - killed me to turn on the furnace but it was 55 inside the house.

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    1. Burr! We've still been sleeping with the bedroom window cracked a tiny bit, and no heat yet!

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  13. Is your Clematis blooming for the second time this year, or is it just a late bloomer? I'm with Evan: not Overgrown, Lush.

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  14. You are quite right, a fine line between overgrown and lush. Because the last part of August/first part September was so hot mine has crossed the line. Yours dances nicely on the edge.

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  15. Oh, Virginia creeper... it's a bit of a menace in my neck of the woods. Gorgeous fall colour in other people's gardens (preferably), though.

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  16. These are my favorite hybrids. Vines bogarting woody plants's space, time, and light. Beautiful! It's not a private garden without one or two (or in my own case, a half dozen? I blame my lazy pruning hands.)

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  17. I also prefer to err on the side of overgrown as opposed to overly manicured.

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  18. It looks wonderful but I'd rethink that virginia creeper. At my house, it has crept across mown lawns and driveways and popped out 20 feet or more away. I've never been able to wholly get rid of it. And the birds spread the berries.

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  19. I can't wait for my garden to look this lush. I love it!

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